Railroad-spike.



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. tartan dramas Farmer @raient DAVID F. VAUGHAN, OF HADDONFIELD, NElV JERSEY;

RAILROAD-SPIKE.

LSPECIFIUATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 691,087, dated January 14C, 1902. Application filed December 29, 1899. Serial No. 741,893. (No model.)

To all whom it pray con/corn:

Beit known that I, DAVID F. VAUGHAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Haddoniield, in the county of Camden and State of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Spikes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure lis a View in transverse vertical section, showing an ordinary l"rail secured to a cross-tie by spikes embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, broken away, of a continuous bar rolled into proper form from which the spikes are cut. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of Fig. 2.

The purpose of' this invent-ion is to provide a spike for securing rails to cross-ties which, While it may be readily and cheaply made, is better adapted to secure and permanently hold the rails in place than other railroadspikes with which I am familiar.

The precise nature of my improvement will appear from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

I make the extension l ot' the head 2 of the spike of somewhat greater length than the extension of the heads of spikes in ordinary use, and I also make the under side of the said extension substantially at a right angle to the body or the shank 3 of the spike that when it (the spike) is driven into the tie 'I to the full extent only the free end portion of the said extension will bear against the top of the foot r of the rail R, as seen in Fig. l. Thus it will be seen that in this construction instead of there being a point of purchase for the foot of the rail close to the shank of the spike the only point of purchase is at a considerable distance from the shank, and obviously a much greater force is required to raise the spike from its seat in the cross-tie than in the said prior constructions. The tendency islargely to force the spike away from the edge of the foot of the rail and so to cause it (the spike) to bind in its seat in the tie. In order, however, to obviate to a considerable extent the liability of the spike from becoming worked loose in time, owing to compression of the wood tie adjacent to the outer side of the shank, I usually make on the side of the spike opposite to the extension l a projection 4, the under side of which is substantially at right angles to the shank 3. The location of said under side of this projection with relation to that of the extension I is such, as seen in Fig. 1, that when the latter is in contact with the top of the foot of the rail the forme-r will be about flush with the top of the tie, and thus the liability of the said extension l being bent upwardly; when the spike is driven home is obviated.

To facilitate the withdrawal of the spike from the tie, I provide an extension 5 of the head of the spike on the same side as the projection 4, under which extension the end ofthe usual crowbar is placed when the spike is to be withdrawn.

I make the side faces of the spike devoid of projections and substantially parallel from end to end.

In making the spikes I roll a bar of any practicable length between rolls of such con- A tour as to impart to the bar 6 the form shown in Figs. 2 and S-that is, in end View similar to the latter figure, which is the form of the spikes. The bar is cut oft transversely at regular intervals, as indicated by the series of vertical parallel dotted lines in Fig. 2, ao cording to the desired width of the spikes.

I am aware that a railroad-spike has been described in which the head projects laterally beyond the plane of the side faces of the shank and in which the inner forward eXtension of the head is bent downwardly or inwardly toward the body of the spike, so that only the said end comes into contact with the top of the foot of the rail. Spikes ofl that form cannot obviously be made from a continuous rolled plate cut off into suitable widths.

It is by making the spike of the form herein described and shown and wholly devoid of lateral projections that Iam enabled to make the same from a continuous homogeneous plate or bar rolled into suitable form, as shown, and that the spikes may be readily and economically made of any width desired.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- As an article of manufacture, a spike rectangular in cross-section having plain at second lug arranged above the irst having u an under surface of substantially the same dimensions as the under surface of the first lug, the under surface of said second lug being also at and in a plane at right anglesto the rear face of said spike, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto afiXed in v signature thiS 19th day of December, A. D. 1899.

DAVID F. VAUGHAN.

Witnesses:

O. E. PARKER, WALTER C. FUSE-Y. 

